Improvement in postage and revenue stamps



O. F. SPENCER. Postage and Revenue Stamps.

No. 208,433. Patented Sept. 24,1878.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. SPENCER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN POSTAGE AND REVENUE STAMPS.

. Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,433, dated September 24, 1878 application filed August 2, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. SPENCER, of the city of Rochester, county of Monroe, and State of New York, have invented a cer rain new and useful Improvement in Postage and Revenue Stamps; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in which Flgures l and 2 are back views of a stamp, showing the gummed side prepared with my improvement. Fig. 3 is a front view of the same canceled.

My improvement relates to the preparation of the gummed side of the stamp, whereby the latter may be canceled by the blow of a hammer, mallet, hand-stamp, or other instrument having an elastic face, so that when the blow is given the face of the stamp will be broken into small pieces, entirely defacing and destroying the same, and preventing its recovery for second use.

The invention consists in coating the gummed side with emery, sand, or other hard granular material, either in the act of gumming or after the gum is applied, so that said granular material will adhere with the 'gum, and when a smart blow is delivered upon the stamp the same will be defaced and disfigured, as before described, and without any harm or detriment to the envelope or its contents (t represents a stamp of ordinary form. I) is the granular coating, applied upon the gummed side. It may cover a part or the whole of the back of the stamp, but should lie at least in the center. I prefer for the purpose ordinary emery of tolerable fineness; but sand, ground glass, and other materials of similar granular nature may be employed. This granular coating may be mixed with the gum and be spread in a body upon the sheets of stamps, or it may be sifted or otherwise applied on the gummed surface after the gum has been spread. Being fine, it adheres with the gum, and does not interfere with the sticking of the stamp. WVhen the stamp is stuck this granular material rests between the stamp and the envelope, and when the stamp is struck by the canceling-instrument the fine grains cut through the stamp, entirely defacing the 831111, as before described.

In use, the envelope or paper having the stamp attached is placed over a bar d surface, preferably metal, and the blow is simply struck upon the stamp. This causes the granular material to cut outward through the stamp, and not inward through the envelope or paper.

I am aware that stamps have been coated with size and other materials of a soft nature; also, that strings have been applied under them. They have also been embossed or struck up in the center, and sharp cuttingteeth have been used to tear the stamp. They have also been prepared with fugitive inks, which are acted upon chemically when the natural inks have been applied and they have been prepared in various ways in order to effectively cancel the stamp. Such devices are not the equivalent of my invention.

The distinctive feature in my improvement with hard grains of sufficient fineness to be incorporated with and form a part of the gummed coating, and yet of suflicient coarseness and hardness to cut through and utterly deface the stamp when the blow is struck. It is so easily and effectively applied as hardly to add to the cost of the stamps, having, therefore, the merit of extreme cheapness. The grains, being spread over the surface, deface the stamp over a large extent, and more effr ctively than can be done by any other means within my knowledge.

Having thus described my invention, I claim A postal or revenue stamp having a portion or the whole of its gummed surface covered with hard granular material incorporated with the gum, as shown and described, and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHAS. F. SPENCER.

Witnesses:

R. E. WHITE, R. F. OSGOOD.

is, that the gummed side of the stamp is coated 

